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Getting a handle on the congestion pricing timeline
I wanted to get a handle on when we could expect tolling to begin, so here goes:
The MTA staff is currently preparing a final document on the proposed congestion pricing toll structure. Based on public feedback coming from hearings that have gone on the past few weeks, the document could be modified from the initial proposal.
See details on that here, but the quick summary: cars will be tolled $15 a day, no more than once a day, between 5a and 9p on weekdays, and between 9a and 9p on weekends. Toll rates should be 75 percent lower in the off-hours. AND cars will only be tolled for ENTERING the Central Business District, which is south of 60th Street, meaning Downtown residents will only be charged when they come home from a trip out of the city, not when they leave as well. (For answers to other scenarios, see this post and this post.)
The MTA board will vote on whether to accept the final proposed toll structure. This could be as early as this Wednesday, March 27, at their monthly meeting, or at an upcoming meeting on April 30 or May 22.
If accepted, tolling would be able to commence following a 60-day public information campaign and a concurrent 30-day testing period.
So the guesstimate: sometime between June 1 and August 1.
The tolling infrastructure itself is almost all complete: there is one location left to install.
Stay tuned.
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Call me a dreamer, but this is my request….. If they are going to add yet another tax on New York City residents, can they please at least enforce all the other laws? Stop the rampant fare evasion on the subway, prosecute the drivers that have the blurred out license plates, and ticket the trucks that double park all over the city. It is only fair!
Yes, exactly! And all of that would generate income for the MTA and the city. Also enforce the traffic laws against all vehicles – cars, trucks, bikes, e-bikes, etc. The flagrant speeding, red-light running, and other unsafe driving are unacceptable and dangerous to all.
A lot of the fare evasion happens when someone uses the gate or holds it open for lots of others. One start would be to re-alarm the gate, and of course to fine people who use the gate for fare evasion.
i commented a few months ago that IMHO the streets are not clogged with regular passenger vehicles so much as FOR HIRE vehicles. and yet i heard on the news this morning that the mayor has authorized permits for 1000’s of more for hire vehicles!
I see nothing but NJ license plates in this neighborhood. Sure we’re near the tunnel, but that’s exactly the problem and the opportunity.
I’m a native New Yorker and in the last 10+ years I have never seen so many TLC cars. I could be waiting to cross the street and at least 10 cars will go by. A friend of mine took the TLC test and I have no idea how these drivers (most who barely speak English) could pass it. So many traffic laws to follow. I’m wondering how they got their licenses.
I still think downtown residents should be exempt from all this. Or at the very least be charged only a fraction of the fee.
COMPLETELY AGREE. So frustrating.
Will the people who voted for this extortionist fee have to pay it? Probably not. No amount of money can help the MTA and during Covid the city was empty and thousands of business went out (stores, restaurants, empty offices, etc.). We should be glad that people are coming back into the city – to shop, work, go to shows and support the city. Where do all of the taxes go that are generated from restaurants, hotels, entertainment facilities and stores?
It’s still so unclear if BPC residents will have to pay if they stay within the CBD district since we have to cross the WSH to enter…
You do not. Read this post and I think it will make sense?